Musicians + Sports: Weird Al Yankovic on His Chances of Performing at the Super Bowl

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“Weird Al” Yankovic has built a long and flourishing career out of pushing pop music culture even further into the realm of ridiculousness.

Over the course of his seemingly endless string of hits, spun out of songs by the likes of Michael Jackson, Nirvana and Coolio, Weird Al has never turned his attention to the wide world of sports — until now.

The renowned accordion player also addressed the groundswell of support from his fans who would like him to perform during halftime at the Super Bowl, consistently the most-watched TV broadcast around the world. There’s even a Change.org petition with tens of thousands of signatures demanding that Yankovic get his shot on the biggest stage of the year.

“I absolutely have heard about it, and I’m extremely flattered by it,” Yankovic said. “It became sort of a big movement, and a lot of people were putting energy into that. I knew that I would never actually be asked to perform at the Super Bowl, so I never got nervous about it. If I had been asked, I would never stop throwing up from nervousness. I know that’s never going to happen in reality, but it got me thinking, ‘Well, what would I do if I did in fact play the Super Bowl?,’ which is one of the reasons that I wrote ‘Sports Song.'”

While we contemplate how in the 15-minute Super Bowl halftime slot Yankovic would navigate the tricky costume changes between “Eat It” and “Amish Paradise,” you should watch the video above to see him pontificate the origins of “Sports Song,” which specific sport he’d most enjoy mocking musically and which instrument Michael Jordan would likely shred.